


Risk of Rain

by bluehat



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Canon-typical language, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Spoilers to around episode 30
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluehat/pseuds/bluehat
Summary: Beau never admits when she needs help, and although she might not seem like it, Jester’s the same way.A conversation on a rainy night after the Iron Shepherds.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & Beauregard Lionett, Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Kudos: 78





	Risk of Rain

“No, I’m fine. I’ll stay on top of the cart, keep an eye on things,” declared Beau stubbornly. There was a steely glint in her eye as well as the reflection from Caleb’s lights as they finished setting up the camp for the night, securing the cart and horses.

“Aren’t you going to be cold?” asked Nott bluntly. “It’s been raining for hours and it’s freezing out here." The goblin’s dark hair was wet and sticking miserably to the sides of her face.

“I don’t get cold,” said Beau, sticking out her lower lip as a droplet of water slid from her hair down her nose.

Jester sat on the cart, uncharacteristically silent. She was watching the goings-on with a passivity that she knew was unlike her, but somehow, after the events of the last few days, she couldn’t bring herself to pipe up. Her whole body ached from her time in the prison, but it didn’t compare to the other pain she was feeling.

“Well, someone should at least keep watch with you,” said Fjord placatingly. Jester knew he was struggling too, but he seemed to slip into his usual leadership position without much chafing. If she hadn’t spent days chained in a cell alongside him, she could almost believe nothing was wrong.

“I’ll do it,” Jester said quietly. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep anyway, and due to her ancestry the night chill had little effect on her, even after the rain.

Beau nodded and the rest of the group settled in, mostly huddled below the cart or spread out towards the trees. Jester supposed Yasha wouldn’t have bothered to hide from the storm, but she was off somewhere again after… after the scene at Molly’s grave.

For a few minutes she and Beau just sat at opposite ends of the cart, both staring off into the night. Beau donned her goggles periodically to get a better look into the surrounding woods, but they weren’t far from the road. Jester looked around halfheartedly, but she just didn’t feel as cautious as she probably should.

Suddenly, the night’s rainy silence was broken by a half-stifled sneeze from Beau, who determinedly sniffed and rubbed at her nose when Jester looked over at her.

“Told you so,” came a sleepy voice from Nott under the cart.

“Go to sleep and fuck off,” snapped Beau with surprising venom, even for her.

Irritated mumbling came from below, but from the sound of the shuffling Nott had taken her advice.

Jester looked up at her best friend, worry shining in her eyes. After a moment’s pause, she finally spoke quietly. “Beau, are you okay?”

Beau let out a protracted huff of air. “Yeah,” she said bluntly, but she didn’t seem as angry as a moment ago. She sniffled again, another few droplets shaking down from her topknot.

“Beau _uuu_ ,” said Jester again, a slight smile creeping on to her face for what felt like the first time in days. “The Traveler told me you’re lying.”

“Fuck off, Jester,” said Beau harshly. “I’m fine, okay? Why does everyone keep asking me if I’m fucking okay?”

Jester flinched back from the anger in Beau’s tone. “Oh. Sorry,” she said shortly, face flushing. She looked down, but she could still see Beau’s hands flutter slightly.

“No, Jess—I’m—damn, I need Fjord—no. I’m sorry. Jesus, I can’t believe I’m making you apologize to me after the time you’ve just had.”

Jester looked up again to meet Beau’s eyes, and there was a softer expression on the monk’s face. “It’s okay, Beau.” She couldn’t really blame the other woman for being on edge after everything that had happened in the last few days. How could it have only been a few days, when things were so different now?

“No, it’s—it’s not. Just because I’m pissed off doesn’t give me the right to be a dick.”

Jester let out a tiny giggle. “But what if I like dicks?”

Beau rolled her eyes, but a small smile played around the edges of her lips. She shivered almost imperceptibly, but Jester couldn’t help but notice the way she was hugging herself just a little tighter.

“Beau, could you maybe come over here? It’s cold.” Jester pouted. She was in reality only just beginning to feel the slightest chill under her green cloak, but she knew Beau would never admit anything herself.

Beau crossed the few feet and sat down like a collapsing bundle of twigs next to Jester, sprawling out lazily even as the rain continued to mist downwards. “This weather fucking sucks,” she breathed out, much more quietly now that the two women were right next to each other.

“Yeah, it sometimes feels like it rains all the time in the Empire. I miss Nicodranas,” she mourned. “At least the rain there is warm.”

“I don’t miss Kamordah much, but at least it was less… swampy,” replied Beau, not looking at her. “Maybe we can finally go to Nicodranas soon. You… probably miss your mom, right?”

“Yeah.” Jester looked down at her hands, unsure of what to say. Her mother had been on her mind so much over the past few days, trapped without light and in chains. She had wondered if… if things went bad, if she had given them enough information that they would be able to tell her mother what had happened. If her mom would manage to pull through.

As Jester shuffled, Beau suddenly leaned forward. “Jester, your wrists!” The other woman pulled Jester’s hands towards her, making visible the dark markings marring her blue skin.

A ring of heavy bruises covered both wrists, as well as some shallow cuts.

“I thought you said they didn’t hurt you much,” said Beau almost inaudibly.

“Um, well, these are mostly my fault, I guess,” said Jester, suddenly having trouble getting the words out properly with Beau’s hands in hers. “I was trying to get away, to get a message out to the Traveler or you guys, you know? And they’re pretty small, so I haven’t wasted any magic on them or anything.”

“We were coming for you, Jess. The whole time. We were so close,” said Beau, a strange roughness to her voice.

“I knew you would,” said Jester softly. “So I—I wasn’t scared. Because I knew that.”

“Oh, Jess,” said Beau, and suddenly Jester found herself wrapped in a tight hug. Beau wasn’t usually a very touchy person, so the shape of her body was still not completely familiar to Jester. It was all harsh angles and sharp muscle, but there was an iron solidity to her.

“Beau, you’re freezing!”

“I don’t get cold,” said Beau, teeth chattering audibly as she held Jester close.

“Oh, oh, just let me warm you up,” said Jester. “I’m a tiefling though, so I _actually_ don’t get very cold, okay?” She shuffled slightly so Beau was practically sitting across her lap and maneuvered her small green cloak around both of them.

As she moved, a flash of pain came from her wrists and she hissed slightly. Beau’s head snapped up to look at her, and Jester was suddenly aware of how close they were. “Do you have any energy left for spells?” Beau asked. “You can probably afford to waste it now. Or we could wake up Caduceus.”

Jester shook her head. “No, I don’t want to wake him up. He seems nice and he probably needs some sleep if he’s going to be working with all of us.” She didn’t answer in regard to the spells, but the bone-deep tiredness in her core told her that wasn’t going to be possible either. In the long run, this was a minor injury and she didn’t need anyone to worry about it.

Beau leaned around Jester’s cloak and reached into her bag, moving around a few objects until she pulled out something small. “Aha!” she proclaimed. Jester could see that it was a roll of the same bindings Beau used to wrap her arms for fighting. “Not bandages, but it’ll do for now.”

Jester nodded wordlessly and just watched Beau slowly tie her wrists, her calloused hands uncharacteristically gentle. She smiled slightly at the blue coloration of the wrappings, and when her eyes flicked up they met Beau’s. “It matches me,” she said simply. The wrappings didn’t do much but at least they kept the rain off of her stinging wrists.

Beau snorted in response and leaned back against the wall of the cart, putting on her goggles to scan the woods. Jester took a cursory look around but nothing seemed out of place. She had to confess that since the Iron Shepherds had taken them so easily, she no longer had much faith that even if something was truly wrong she would notice in time. But something about Beau’s watchful eyes made her feel slightly less alone for the first time since that night.

As if reading her mind, Beau’s eyes met hers. The other woman wriggled closer under the cloak, saying nothing.

“You never answered me,” said Jester in a small voice.

“About what?” grunted Beau.

“Are you okay?” Jester wasn’t sure if she expected a response or not, but it felt wrong somehow to ignore the issue entirely.

Beau let out a long breath. “I mean… sort of. You know.” She sniffled slightly and Jester wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold or something else.

“Yeah.” Jester leaned over and rested her head on Beau’s shoulder, careful not to poke her with her horns. She felt Beau stiffen for a moment, but then relax.

“Are… are you okay, Jess?” Jester could feel the vibrations of Beau’s voice as she spoke, she was so close to her neck. “You’re not hurt anywhere else, are you?”

Jester giggled a little bit, but couldn’t help the sigh that followed. “Nah, I’m fine. I’m glad to be back with everybody even… even with all of the other stuff.”

A boom of thunder rolled over the two huddled together, as if reminding them of their absent friends.

“Do you think Yasha will come back?” Jester asked, not looking at Beau.

Beau paused for a moment before responding. “I think so. Not sure, but… I don’t know. She always came back before, so I think so. She probably just… needs some time. Shit, I don’t know.”

“I hope she does,” said Jester. “I… I don’t want to lose her too.” She let her hand pick idly at the embroidery on the edge of her cloak as she spoke.

Almost too fast to see, Beau’s hand whipped out and grabbed hers. Jester jolted, almost jabbing Beau’s cheek with her horn as she sat up.

“Sorry,” Beau murmured. “I just… I was afraid. I was afraid that you were gone too.”

“Beau…?” said Jester quietly.

“I didn’t think anything bad could happen to any of us, in a way, you know?” Beau’s voice was quiet but tight, as if she were holding her jaw almost closed. “I just assumed that everything would be fine. And then… he’s just _gone_.” Beau’s hand held hers almost hard enough to hurt, but not quite.

“I still feel like… he’s still here,” said Jester, putting her other hand on top of Beau’s gently. “Like he’s just gonna come back and pull out his cards and get drunk and we’ll all just laugh or something. I know it’s not true but it… just doesn’t feel right, to have it end like this.”

“I was afraid you would be gone too,” Beau breathed. “Like since the seal had been broken, you were all going to end up dead and I was going to have to see it.” She said the words quickly, like no one would hear them if they escaped fast enough.

Jester wasn’t sure how to respond, squeezing Beau’s hand back.

“I was so fucking scared for everyone, but more than anything… I…” Beau trailed off.

“What?” Jester murmured.

“Nah, not important.”

“Beauuu!” Jester chirped, poking Beau’s shoulder lightly. “You _have_ to tell me, I thought we were like, sharing and stuff!”

Beau barked a quiet laugh. “I’ll tell you at some point, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Jester nodded and tucked herself back against Beau’s side. The wrappings around her wrists were a little tight but somehow they felt like security. “I’m not going anywhere, Beau, okay though?”

“You better not. I’ll find a genius fucking cleric and punch them till they bring you back, and frankly they probably don’t deserve it, okay?” Beau wound her arm around Jester’s back loosely.

“Oh, okay, I see. So you know a better cleric than me?” Jester pulled a face and raised an eyebrow at her friend.

“Definitely not. Never met a cleric as badass as you, Jess.”

“Yeah, for sure.” Jester giggled just a little.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Beau muttered, almost so quietly that Jester couldn’t hear it.

Jester let the sound of the weather take over for just a moment, turning her head so all she could see was the woods and the misting rain.

“I thought the Traveler would help me.”

Beau sucked in a little bit of air through her teeth and her arm tightened around Jester’s back for a moment. “He… didn’t show?”

“I know he didn’t abandon me. I know he’s always with me. But I… I didn’t feel like it.”

“Is that… why you didn’t heal your wrists?” asked Beau.

Although Jester was perfectly aware of Beau’s intelligence, the perceptiveness of this question caught her completely by surprise. She considered it for a moment. “I guess sort of, but not exactly though. I didn’t really think of it that way but I guess… I wasn’t completely sure it would work and I didn’t want to find out for _sure_ for sure. And it’s not that big of a deal anyway so…”

“We don’t want you to be hurt, okay Jess? _I_ don’t want you to be hurt.”

“I knowww,” groaned Jester. “It’s really not, like, a big deal, I _promise_. The Traveler will always be there for me and I know that. Totally.”

“Okay,” said Beau. “So will we, okay?”

“You saved us. I know,” Jester replied, smile playing around her lips. “You guys looked like so cool, swooping in for the rescue. Next time I’ll help out for sure.”

Beau chuckled. “Yeah, hopefully we don’t need a next time but I’ll keep it in mind.” She separated herself slightly from Jester so that she could put on her goggles and scan the area again, and Jester did as well. Nothing amiss, no noise from Caleb’s guarding spells. Not that it had made any difference when they were all taken. The two sat silently as the rain continued to fall.

As if she were responding to Jester’s thoughts, Beau spoke suddenly. “I’m sorry we didn’t notice. That you were taken. I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you then.”

“It’s not your job to protect me,” Jester said. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault, okay?”

“It _is_ my job,” Beau said with a touch of anger in her tone. “Sorry, I just—I mean, what else am I good for? I punch shit to steal stuff and to protect people. But we didn’t even know you were gone until the next morning.”

“They… cast a silencing spell or something. I think they hit Fjord and Yasha with something that kept them from moving, but I tried to run and they caught me. I should’ve tried magic or something, but it happened so fast,” Jester’s words tripped out of her mouth almost unwillingly. She hadn’t yet spoken about what happened to anyone, so caught up in all of the horrors of the past few days. “I like listening to the rain, now. It’s a little silly but it makes me feel like I’m safe, you know?”

Beau’s other arm snaked around her, holding her in an awkward embrace against the wall of the cart. “It’s not silly. I’m… I’m so glad you’re safe, Jessie.” Her head leaned against Jester’s, and if they hadn’t been quite so close Jester might have missed the tears prickling the edges of Beau’s eyes. With a start, she realized she was close to tears as well.

“I’m glad you’re here, okay Beau? Don’t blame yourself. Promise?” whispered Jester. She could feel Beau’s breath against her face, so close their cheeks were almost touching.

Beau hummed a noncommittal response, but then sighed. “I’ll try.” She laughed darkly. “You’re the one who got kidnapped, you know. Why are you trying to make me feel better?”

“I’m a cleric, Beau,” Jester smiled. “Making people feel better is my job.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Beau muttered teasingly.

“Oh—you!” Jester shoved Beau slightly, the two dissolving into laughter. Beau’s arms still hung around Jester’s shoulders, and when the laughter paused, Jester found herself right in front of Beau’s face, staring straight into her bright blue eyes.

“Jess, I…” Beau started, but before she could finish Jester leaned in and kissed her.

Beau was stock-still for a moment, and Jester almost pulled away. Before she could fully move back, Beau kissed her back fiercely. When they broke apart, both breathing slightly harder, Beau stared at Jester in shock.

“I’m… uh… was that okay?” Beau asked dumbly.

“I’m the one who kissed _you_ ,” Jester pointed out.

“It was very okay on my end,” said Beau, face still looking shell-shocked. “ _Very_ okay. I, uh, I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but—”

“I know,” said Jester, and leaned in to kiss her again.

\---

When the time for the next shift finally came, Beau and Jester crawled under the cart as Caleb and Fjord took their place. Without speaking, they crawled onto a blanket, lying side by side. Jester watched a trickle of rainwater make its way down the side of Beau’s face slowly.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” Beau whispered. “I was more afraid than anything that I would never get to say it.”

“You didn’t have to be afraid,” Jester murmured. “I was trying to find the right words too.”

Beau’s hand reached out and cupped the side of Jester’s face, strong and warm. She brushed a wet piece of hair out of the way and Jester smiled, wriggling closer. Beau hugged her into her chest, and Jester let her arms curl around Beau’s shoulders. For the first time in days, Jester felt truly warm.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so glad critrole is coming back i missed my blue ladies so much


End file.
